Optimal sizing and dispatch schedule of battery storage in grid-connected microgrid

Abstract

Battery storage can provide considerable benefits in renewable energy transitions. However, high capital and maintenance costs become the main barriers to its implementation. To overcome the challenges, using the battery storage in multiple applications and incorporating optimization method are proven to be able to increase its economic benefits. Accordingly, the underlying question of this thesis is whether the economic benefits from using the battery to accommodate energy arbitrage and manage demand charge while also implementing optimization method can hurdle its high costs. During the optimization process, battery usage cost which sometimes being neglected in prior studies is deliberated, and its impact on the total cost of the battery is analyzed. The dispatch schedule optimization is built using mixed-integer programming algorithm with the objective function to minimize lifecycle costs of the battery storage. The optimization is simulated for 8-days time horizon. Sustainable floating residentials, a microgrid project in Amsterdam, is used as a study case. The microgrid component consists of solar photovoltaic, load, and battery. Vanadium-redox battery technology is investigated using the optimization method. Dayahead based rate is used as the electricity pricing scheme. The results demonstrate that utilizing the battery for multiple applications might increase its economic benefits and overcome its high initial and operating costs. Another notable result is that the battery usage cost tends to have a significant impact on the total costs of the battery. Considering battery usage cost in the optimization method could reduce the total costs.